Doubt
by The Girl Who Flys
Summary: Elsa's wary of the ice harvester smiling at her sister like that. Especially after what just happened with Hans.


Elsa is entirely unsure what to think of Kristoff when she first officially meets him. After what just happened with Hans, it's only natural that she should be wary of any man that came too close to her sister. There are only two things that are saving Kristoff from her immediate dislike. The first is their first, unofficial, meeting in her ice palace. She remembers how he ran straight to Anna and even through her fear, she could see how concerned he was. He even tried to get Anna to leave before she conjured up the snow monster. The second was his reaction to Hans. She saw the look of pure rage on his face as he laid his eyes on the stirring prince, she heard the animalistic growl sounding deep in his throat as he began to march over, and if Anna hadn't stopped him to get her own punch in, she knows that Kristoff would have done the same. This distaste he has for the disgraced Prince of the Southern Isles almost makes her like him. Almost. But she still doesn't trust him. And she doesn't like him either.

She had only let go of Anna for a _second. _She had just wanted to see what the commotion in the water was about and had watched her guards fishing Hans from the water before tying his hands behind his back.

"We'll be coming to shore in just a second," she assured the guards when they called out in concern to her. Elsa turned to Anna, about to say something to her. She stopped, a tiny sound barely escaping her mouth, and her face fell.

The ice harvester was hugging her sister. He was _hugging _her _sister. _She should freeze him on the spot. The only thing that stopped her was seeing the wide-eyed look of worry and fear on his face as he gripped her tight. Anna laughed.

"Kristoff, I'm _fine,_" she told him, patting his back.

He swallowed thickly. "I know," he said. "Just…just making sure that you're really here." Anna pulled away from his grasp and smiled up at him.

"Thanks for coming back for me," she said almost dreamily and this is almost too close to the whole Hans fiasco for Elsa to bear right now. She's seeing red as she watches the ice harvester look goofily at her sister scratching the reindeer beneath its chin and she hardly hears Olaf skipping around the deck of the ship, ranting about flowers and picnics and the beach.

Kristoff finally notices her staring and nudges Anna, gesturing in Elsa's direction. Anna notices nothing amiss with Elsa's demeanor and grabs Kristoff by the arm to drag him over to her sister. He stumbles after her and looks wholly uncomfortable as he stands in front of Elsa.

"I never got the chance to properly introduce you to each other," Anna says, smiling sheepishly. She stands straighter and clears her throat, appearing like the proper princess she was brought up to be and this is _definitely _too close to the Hans fiasco.

"Elsa… may I present, Mister Kristoff Bjorgman; ice harvester of Arendelle," Anna says regally. Kristoff chuckles nervously. He reaches his hand out just a fraction of an inch to Elsa, then pulls it back and scratches the back of his head.

"Wait…what am I supposed to do?" Kristoff mutters to Anna. "Am…am I supposed to bow?"

Anna smiled sympathetically up at him. "You can bow if you want. I mean, you don't _have _to but she kind of is your Queen and all."

Kristoff bows spastically and mutters a "Pleased to meet you, your majesty" and Elsa is afraid of where this conversation is going.

"I'm not going to bless any marriages today, Anna," she says hurriedly. The last time she refused to bless a marriage she kind of froze…everything.

Kristoff and Anna practically jumped away from each other in shock and embarrassment and they both start talking at the same time.

"Oh, no, no, no! It's not what you think!"

"Yeah, we're-we are _not _together."

"I was just helping her find _you-_"

"I'm done with engagements for at _least _a couple of years-"

"I really liked your ice palace by the way-"

"After all I put this guy through he probably thinks I'm just a big pain-"

"You're not a big pain."

"I almost set you on _fire!_"

"But you didn't."

"You set someone on fire?" Elsa says in concern. Fire and Anna should never, _never _mix. Even after thirteen years of isolation she knew this simple fact.

"I did _not _set anyone on fire," Anna says, offended. She put her hands on her hips, turning back to Elsa. "I lit a bedroll on fire and threw it at the wolves that were attacking Kristoff-"

"Wolves?"

"Yeah, in like, the first couple hours we started out finding you this pack of wolves came out of _nowhere_ and Kristoff kicked one out of the way and then I swung a lute at another one-"

"I…I'm sorry…you hit a wolf with a lute?"

"Yeah. It was there and so was the wolf. Anyway, another wolf came out of _nowhere_ and pulled Kristoff out of the sleigh but he had hold of a rope and so the sleigh was still pulling him and that's when I lit the bedroll on fire and threw it at the wolves and helped pull Kristoff back into the sleigh and then we were coming up to a ravine-"

"Why do I have a feeling I don't like where this story is going?"

"Well we're both here so obviously it's a happy ending. Now, pay attention! Anyway, Kristoff here freakin' _threw _me on to Sven and cut the reins so that Sven and I could make it across and then he jumped out of the sleigh and just _barely _made it to the edge of the cliff and he would have fallen if I hadn't gotten the pick axe and the rope and pulled him up with Sven. And then we went on our merry way to your ice castle! Ta da!" Anna grinned, out of breath at the end of her story but looking immensely proud of either her story telling abilities or her heroic antics.

Elsa looked at Kristoff. He had saved her sister; probably countless times since the wolves. Her feelings toward him shifted away from dislike slightly. But only slightly.

"I have a feeling I'm going to need to hear the full story about the last couple of days from you," she told Anna. "From _both _of you." Kristoff gulps nervously and Elsa almost smirks in satisfaction. Good. This one was afraid of her. She would rather be loved than feared as a Queen, but when it came to men and her sister, she'd prefer them to be afraid. Especially after the cockiness of Hans.

"We'll return to the castle this instant," Elsa decides. "I have a feeling I have many messes to clean up after the events of the past few days."

"Hey…Elsa?" Anna asks nervously. "You…um…do you think when we get back to the castle we can get Kristoff some new clothes? Everything he owns is kind of…burnt to a crisp at the bottom of a ravine…"

Elsa looks over at Kristoff as he shifts uncomfortably, looking much too warm in his ice harvesting gear. She supposed giving him some new clothes was the _least _she could do for now.

"Fine," Elsa allows. She's still unsure of whether or not she should like him or trust him, but her mind would change soon. Several hours later after baths and the changing of clothes and hearing accounts from both Anna and Kristoff, her opinion slowly starts to change. Maybe this Kristoff isn't so bad after all.


End file.
